Left Behind
by Kwiff
Summary: After Brandy was abandoned by her own family when the shit hit the fan, she joined forces with a group from her home town, in particular, Lee. The group succumbed to the world they were now trying to survive & now they were all that were left. Based after the events of Season 4.8, An OC story with regulars from the show included. This summary may change, NOT a OC/Daryl love story.
1. Chapter 1

**A/N: A new fanfic for me.. I haven't stopped my other one, just felt I need a change, a different angle. Like it says in the summary, this story is based on my OC's with some of the shows characters becoming involved in their story... this all happens after the mid season finale where everyone is scattered and Carol has been kicked out of the group. **

**As with my other story, DarkShadow008 has my thanks for encouraging and helping me. **

**I hope you enjoy this one as much as the other... please let me know and review!**

Chapter 1

Brandy peeked out of the window of the abandoned house at the wagon that had now stopped on the opposite side of the street. She knelt down so that she could only see out of the bottom corner of the window. A woman climbed out of the car checking up the road and then back down to where she had just come from. There was no one else in the car that Brandy could see.

She watched as the short haired woman grabbed a bag out of the passenger side of the car and walked slowly up the road. There were walkers around but it had only been one or two, no groups of them.

"I don't think she's a threat" Brandy said standing up as the woman walked carefully up to one of the houses across the road. "I think she's going to go house to house."

"Pfft" came a male voice from behind her "she wont find nuthin', hardly nuthin' there when we went round. You think she'll 'ave anythin' in the car?" He look over at the woman crouching by the window and waited for her reply.

Brandy shrugged her shoulders "dunno, whadaya wanna do? You know she'll come in here. Could be handy havin' someone else around, and she must be able to fight, she's older and that. She might know somewhere we can go." She sighed "I'm kinda sick of movin' all the time."

"Only way to survive" the man said stretching his lean tanned arms in front of himself "we got beans and more beans. Better than nuthin'" he said surveying their supplies.

Their group had started out quite a bit bigger but with time and having to fight not only the dead but the living as well, the group had been broken and split. Brandy and Lee had made it out together and planned on staying that way, looking out for each other and watching each others backs.

"I think we should go talk to her, only one person" Brandy said still watching the woman walking slowly between the houses. She must have realised that this street had already been ransacked and walked dejected back to her car.

"You comin'?" she asked Lee, picking up her hand gun and checking the clip, one round left. She sighed "guess I'll be taking one o' these" she said looking at the selection of knives that were lined up on one of the tables, she chose a serrated edged hunting knife and hooked it on the opposing side to her regular hunting knife.

"You keep watch" she said to Lee as she walked quietly out of the door and silently down the stairs. There was only one way in or out of the building and that was through a small bathroom window at the side of the house. As long as you weren't dead it was very easy to climb in and out of. The front and back doors were secured with two by fours nailed through them. Nothing could push in or out of those doors.

Lee sighed and stood by the window looking down at the woman who had just reached her car, she looked up and saw him standing there. He nodded his head at the woman and looked down to where Brandy was appearing.

"Ya armed?" Brandy asked walking slowly towards her.

"Are you?" the woman asked, her gun in her hand but not pointed at the stranger approaching her.

"Do I look it?" Brandy asked holding her arms out "only got the knives ya see."

The woman lowered her pistol.

"He's got a shotgun though" Brandy said motioning behind her to where Lee was casually leaning against the window pane.

The woman looked from Brandy up to Lee and back down to the woman and holstered her pistol "I don't want any trouble, I was just looking for food, supplies."

"There ain't none 'round here" Brandy said with a familiarity in her voice that stopped the stranger dead, she looked slowly up at Brandy.

"What?" Brandy asked, feeling awkward at the woman's steely gaze.

"Nothing" she said quietly "you sounded like someone I know. I'm Carol."

Brandy looked a the woman "Brandy, that's Lee up there. You on your own? That's dangerous."

"I had a group" Carol said "but things weren't working out. Sometimes it's easier on your own, to survive."

Brandy looked up to where Lee was standing and back to the woman, she looked tired, withdrawn and down right miserable "ya had any proper sleep since you left you're group?" she asked.

Carol shook her head "not really, always sleeping with one eye open."

"Ya wanna come up, have some real rest, it's pretty secure." Brandy offered the woman. Lee would hate it but she didn't care, she hoped that if the roles were reversed someone would offer her the same. At least one night.

* * *

Lee shook his head, 'damn that girl' he thought to himself "we don't got the room nor supplies to bring someone in. Although she might have her own food" he sighed and walked to the top of the stairs to wait for them coming up.

Brandy walked up the stairs behind Carol and could just feel Lee's cold stare at them both.

"What?" Brandy said defiantly walking past him "she might have summit other than damn beans to eat."

"It ain't much" Brandy said following Carol in to the large master bedroom that had been their home for the last few months "ya can have one of the other rooms, its all clear in here. We can heat food up for ya to if ya like, we got beans."

"I've got some soups and some fresh vegetables" Carol said looking through the back she grabbed from the car "for the room and safety" she said handing the items over to a wide eyed Brandy.

"Thank you" Brandy gushed, she had not had fresh fruit in months.

"Just picked 'em off a tree a few miles back" Carol grinned "natures way of giving back I guess."

Carol looked at the two people standing in front of her as they looked through the bag she offered. Brandy was a little shorter than she was, dark brown hair, piercing blue eyes. She was very pretty for someone who had obviously not had a proper wash in days, maybe weeks. He was tall and muscular, his hair cut short, he reminded her of Shane. The way he was so assured. And that worried her somewhat.

"I might go lie down for a bit" Carol said picking up her other bag that held her few belongings, she noticed the table that was covered in all kinds of knives and weapons but she did notice that there were very few guns in view. Bullets were running for everyone, unless you came across a military camp which had not yet been raided.

"Ok, like I said, just take any room down the hall" Brandy smiled closing her eyes as she held a peach up to her nose.

"Thank you" Carol nodded at Lee and turned to walk down the hall, taking the room at the furthest end of the hall, closing the door quietly behind her.

* * *

Lee wrapped his arms around Brandy's body and rested his chin on her shoulder, she leaned back against him biting into one of the four peaches that Carol had given them.

"Oh my god" she exhaled closing her eyes as she bit into the fruit "that is, just, ya gotta taste it" she said holding it up to Lee's mouth.

He shook his head "it's yours babe, you gotta finish it now." He could have easily taken a bite but he was enjoying watching the immense pleasure that this one little fruit was giving her.

He had known Brandy since they were about ten years old but it wasn't until the world turned to shit that they had been thrown together. Her own family were a group of misfits, her mother and father, both alcoholics and her brothers were good for nothings, in and out of juvie and prison. His family had owned most of the town and while he hated her family he had always had a soft spot for her very sweet nature and the fact that even though she had a lot of bad stuff happen to her at home, she was always smiling.

"I'll take the first watch" he said kissing her softly on the cheek, they had both agreed that they would never let anyone see that they were together, something like that could be used against them and even in front of Carol, one woman, they would make sure that she had no idea that they were lovers.

"Ok" Brandy yawned "Wake me ok" she looked at him sternly "you let me sleep last night, just let me sleep a few hours ok?"

Lee nodded "ok, I'll wake ya when I get tired" he said looking down the dark hall to where there guest was, he could see no light or movement from the closed door. He looked back down at Brandy who had fallen asleep already on the mattress on the floor. He went over to the window and looked out, there were a lot more biters around than usual, which was odd he thought looking down the road and across the street, it was almost as if Carol had bought them with her.

But no that couldn't possibly be right? Could it?


	2. Chapter 2

**A/N: Thank you so much for reading... I hope you enjoy this chapter to. Let me know your thoughts... Thanks again to DarkShadow008 - she is really helping me with this one. Please review!**

Chapter 2

Brandy woke to the sound of a series of crashes downstairs. She sat up on the mattress looking for Lee, who was standing by the door looking into the darkness that was down the stairs. She silently got to her feet and stood behind him.

"What?" she asked simply.

"Dunno" came his answer, he had the shotgun over his shoulder and was holding a large wooden handled axe. He looked over to the balcony looking down on the stairs where Carol was now standing, knife in hand. She looked over at Lee and shook her head.

Brandy, once again silently attached the same knives around her waist that she had earlier that day and picked up a black machete and went to look out of the window, down into the street, it was pretty quiet. She went back over to stand behind Lee and they both stood in silence and listened, there was definitely something or someone down there.

"Only way they could get in was through that window" Brandy whispered to Lee's neck, he nodded and looked over to Carol.

"You think you can get over there?" he whispered to Brandy pointing to where Carol was standing. Brandy nodded and moved herself in front of Lee. "Be careful" he whispered to her.

Brandy knew where the creaky floorboards were on that landing and managed to avoid standing on them, moving silently, ten or so steps to where Carol was standing.

"You see anythin'?" she asked crouching down next to the short haired woman.

"No" Carol replied "I thought you said this place was safe" she went on "why isn't he doing something?" Looking over to where Lee was staring intently down the stairs.

"No place is gonna ever be safe again" Brandy stared at the woman "ya'll can leave if you like" she said pointing down the stairs, getting angry at the woman.

Lee suddenly moved forward "Hey" he shouted, both women stood up in unison.

"What are ya doin'?" Brandy whispered loudly at him and was about to storm over to where he was moving but stopped when she saw the look in his eyes.

"Someone's down there" he stated putting one foot on the top step "They were movin' to fast to be biters. Brandy watch my back."

"Always" she said shooting him a quick glance, following him, a few steps behind, down the stairs.

"We don't want no trouble" came a voice in the darkness "but if you wanna fight..." it trailed off.

"Ya'll came in here pal" Lee shouted back, hugging the wall, trying to see with the help of moonlight through the cracks in the closed up windows where the intruders were, how many of there were.

"Show yourselves" Lee demanded, he had leant the axe against the wall at the top of the stairs and now gripped the shotgun, he didn't know who was down there and felt better with the shotgun in his hands rather than the axe when fighting the living.

He saw movement and two shapes appearing slowly and wearily at the bottom of the stairs.

"Oh shit" Brandy said staring at the man that was standing at the bottom of the stairs pointing a crossbow at the pair, the man seemed just as shocked at who he was looking up at. Behind him a young blonde was holding onto his shoulders, she had red rimmed eyes.

"YOU" Brandy couldn't hold back, she ran down the stairs and into the face of the blue eyed man and stood nose to nose with him "ya'll left me" she said pushing him back.

Lee ran down behind her to try and hold her back from attacking the man but was too late, she had launched at him, punching him on the jaw which made the pair and the blonde girl fall to the ground.

She was still trying to hit him when Lee scooped down and picked her up off the ground and held her back from the man.

"I though you were dead Brandy" the man said sitting on the ground rubbing his face, the girl had crawled over to the man and was crying uncontrollably behind him.

"I saw ya" Brandy spat trying to get free from Lee's grip but failing miserably "I hollered an' waved, I know ya'll saw me."

"Daryl?" came Carols shocked voice from the middle of the staircase.

The man looked up and squinted, letting his eyes adjust to the darkness up the stairs "Carol?" he asked before looking back the Brandy and Lee.

"You know her?" Lee demanded of the man.

"Yeah, she was part of our camp" he said standing up wearily.

"Ah" Lee suddenly said as Daryl went to pick up his crossbow "leave it" he said.

"Oh, so you come and find her huh?" Brandy shouted pointing up at Carol "but ya'll don't even come back to find your OWN FLESH AN' BLOOD?!" She screamed at him.

Carol was in shock, she looked from Daryl to the two that had taken her in just hours earlier "own flesh and blood? Daryl what's going on?" She asked coming all the way down the stairs and going over to Beth. "Beth? Daryl?"

"She's ma sister" Daryl mumbled looking over at the still enraged woman that Lee was holding back, he rubbed his neck and looked down to the ground.

"Get off me!" Brandy shouted finally pulling away from Lee's tight grip "I ain't gonna waste anymore energy on 'is sorry ass" she said, turning and picking up the machete and storming back up the stairs and into the darkness, slamming the door behind her.

The four stood in an awkward silence until Carol turned to Daryl and Beth "What happened? You're far out for a supply run."

"The Governor" Beth said quietly, leaning again onto Daryl "he.. he..."

"He killed Herschel, nearly killed us all with a tank" Daryl stepped in to save Beth from having to talk about her fathers death that they had all witnessed not even a month earlier. "The prison's gone, I have no idea about any of the others, if they got out."

"Hey, ya know I'm all for happy reunions" Lee stepped up and into the light "how'd ya'll both get in here?"

"We saw two people going in through that window" Beth said quietly "place looked safe."

"I would have thought callin' out would have been the thing to do" Lee said looking directly at Daryl "I would 'ave killed ya."

"You couldn't kill a pig in huntin' season Lee Banister" Daryl stepped up to the larger man, almost spitting out Lee's name "I swear, if you've touched ma sister.."

"You'll do what Daryl?" Lee looked down at Brandy's older brother "get Merle and the pair of ya can beat the crap outta me? What ever man, times have changed, this world changes people. We all on the level now."

"I thought she was dead, I was told she was dead" Daryl said his voice rising and turned to face Lee but Carol stepped in before he could say anything else.

"So you two know each other as well?" She asked calmly, not believing what she was hearing or seeing.

The pair glared at each other before Daryl broke the silence "yeah, we grew up t'gether" he said solemnly. "I swear to god man, if you touched her..." He trailed off.

"You left her Daryl, not me" Lee said pointing a finger into Daryl's chest "I saw it with my own eyes man. You an' Merle, walkin' away. A damn banshee couldn't have been screaming any louder than what she was doin' " Lee turned to walk away from the small group but turned suddenly and looked right into Daryl's eyes. "It fuckin' killed her watching YOU leavin' her behind."

Daryl looked at his feet. He honestly thought the she was dead, at least that was what Merle had told him. Fuck you Merle. He had convinced Daryl she was dead, the now deceased brother never liked his sister, Daryl knew that. Their father was convinced that he wasn't her father and so did not care for one second about her. Most mornings when he would come home drunk she would take a beating and on occasion, Merle had joined in, or be happy to just stand and watch. Daryl was the only one that would stand up for her and up until about ten minutes ago, she absolutely adored him and he in returned protected her.

* * *

To say Brandy was angry was an understatement. She was more than angry and if they weren't in a biter infested apocalypse she would have walked out of that door and ran for it.

But in this world, she couldn't do that so she just leaned against the closed door, closed her eyes and listened.

She heard Daryl say that Merle had told him that she was dead. 'That dirty bastard' she thought to herself, Daryl had always cared about her. Until that day, the day her life and the world changed.

Brandy was just not sure if she could or should forgive him now. Yes he was family but when she needed him the most, he left her behind. She has no idea what to do now, could she turn her back on him like he did her? She just didn't know.


	3. Chapter 3

**A/N: Sorry this one has taken a while to come through, I started this one because I was kind of stick with the other one but now I've found my groove again with that one lol. But I still really like this one and because it is a different dynamic of my other one! **

**Thanks as always to DarkShadow008! You're a champ! **

**Enjoy and if you want to, review! Thanks for reading! **

**Chapter 3**

Lee let the newcomers stay in the lower level for the night, he might have hated Daryl but he wasn't a monster and kicking them out in the middle of the night was something he just couldn't do.

"Ya'll can have that room" he said pointing to the large living area before turning to Carol "You ok where you are?" he asked.

Carol nodded "I think I'll come down here, with them" she said quietly holding onto Beth who had not left go of her arm since she came down the stairs.

"Whatever" Lee said walking up the stairs "hope ya'll got yer own food, we don't have much for ourselves." He said without stopping to hear it any of them responded.

"Well isn't he a barrel of laughs" Carol sighed rolling her eyes "what happened between you two Daryl?"

Daryl was in no mood to talk about anything in his past with anyone, let alone Carol, he hadn't had a chance to miss the woman since the Governors attack on the prison and in his own mind Rick had done the right thing by casting her out. She did kill two innocent people. He gave Carol a look that she understood all too well.

"Ok" she said backing away from him and sitting down next to Beth "I'll leave it. Come on Beth, you need some sleep." She put her arm around the girl who instantly fell asleep leaning onto Carol shoulder. Carol flashed a wry smile.

* * *

Lee opened the door slowly and peered into the room, Brandy was looking out of the window, her arms defiantly folded in front of her, she glanced over at him as he crossed the room and stood behind her and wrapped his arms around her waist.

She shrugged him off and shook her head "don't" she said not looking at him, chewing her bottom lip.

Lee snorted and sat down in one of the sofas that were in the room "so what now?" he asked her.

"What do ya mean 'what now'" she spun around, her arms still folded in front of her "How the hell do I know?"

"Your brother" he said rolling his eyes "down there, the one who left ya in the middle of a over run town."

Brandy's eyes narrowed "ya think I don't know that?" she shouted at him before realising that in shouting everyone, living and dead would hear her. "Ya think I don't know" she said through clenched teeth. "I was there LEE" she said emphasising his name. "You can be a real ass sometimes" she said finally as she tried to not let the tears that were forming in her eyes actually flow.

"What the fuck did I do?" he held up his arms and shaking his head watching as she turned back to the window.

"You can sleep" she said staring into the darkness "I'll take this watch."

"Ok" Lee said launching himself onto the mattress "you do what you gotta do babe."

Brandy bit her lip again and leaned against the window pane. Daryl was her brother, she tried to reason with herself, her only flesh and blood now, well except maybe Merle might still be around. But in this world and the fact that families, your typical family unit of a father, mother and siblings was now pretty much non-existent. She was going to hold onto the family member that she had left and the only family member that until that day, actually cared about her.

After an hour of staring out of the window she heard the familiar sounds of Lee's gentle snores from the mattress, she smiled to herself 'once he falls asleep theres no waking him' she thought and moved silently to the door. She looked at Lee sleeping peacefully, 'he is going to hate for doing this' she thought opening the door and slipping out to the landing.

* * *

Daryl was sitting in the middle of the staircase staring intently at his hunting knife when her heard Brandy's door open and quietly close. He looked up to see Brandy standing at the top of the stairs looking down at him, her arms folded.

He grinned as she walked down a few steps and sat down.

"What?" she asked him.

"Ya always stood like that when ya were angry" came his reply.

"Yeah, well I am angry Daryl" she said leaning forward and whispering loudly "I expect that from Merle, never from you" she paused "where is he anyway?" She asked of their older brother.

Daryl looked up at her "dead" he said simply "he was tryin' ta help, the group, lead some bad people away."

"Pfft, Merle? Helpin' anyone but himself? I find that hard to believe" Brandy scoffed.

"He did Brandy" Daryl said looking up at her "this place changes people, some grow as people, others not much so. Look I know that nothin' will ever change what happened all I can say is that I honestly thought you were dead. I never heard ya. You know I would 'ave come an' got ya if I did."

Brandy played with the frayed laces on her shoes while she listened to her brother talking, she knew deep down that he was right, even if Merle was telling him not to, if he had of heard her he would have come back for her. But it still didn't take away the pain of watching the pair of them driving away, together.

"I hated what pa did to you" he said suddenly, again looking back down to his knife "what they both did."

"He beat on you more" she said sadly "he was just.. an angry, horrid man" she added, neither sibling could look at each other. Their past was something that neither had ever really talked about to anyone, let alone themselves.

"It just hurt Daryl" Brandy said finally "you drivin' away with Merle. It was like you didn't even care, Lee found me. I know ya'll don't get along but ya have to if you're gonna stick around. I wont leave him."

Daryl looked up again at his sister, he hated the fact the she was with Lee Banister. Their history went way back, Daryl was a redneck from a broken family, spat on by those more fortunate than him. Lee was from a loving and well respected family in town and a rich one. They owned most of main street and most of the farms around the local area. Two very people and they always clashed when ever they met as they were both quite angry people.

"I guessed you wouldn't" Daryl rolled his eyes "you are a Dixon after all" he grinned "I'm glad ya aint dead Brandy."

"Me to" she smiled at her brother "I'm glad you made it, if you were Merle I think I would have shot him by now, I hated him."

"I know ya did, life wasn't good, for either of us" Daryl said quietly "but look where we are now."

"What happened in your old place?" Brandy asked remembering that Daryl had mention that people had died, they had been over run and the place they were in had been destroyed.

"There was a guy..." Daryl told her the story, told her about the Governor, about the group, Rick, Carl, he told her about Lori and the Greene family. The pair sat on the stairs for the rest of the night talking about how they came to be there. Brandy told Daryl about what happened after he had driven away from their home town and how Lee had saved her from becoming biter food.

"We call 'em walkers" Daryl grinned.

"They dead is what they are" Brandy sighed.

* * *

Lee stood behind the door listening to the siblings talking, he shook his head "damn you Dixon" he said under his breath. He walked back over to the window and stood there, arms folded just staring into the darkness.

He stayed there for a few hours until the first rays of sun peaked over the houses in the street, the heat touching his face pulled him out of the trance he was in. He grabbed his gun and opened the door, only to be greeted with Brandy and Daryl still sitting on the stairs talking.

"Can't be comfortable" he muttered making his way down the stairs, Andi pulled her legs up to her chest while Daryl stood up to let the man past.

"Where ya goin'?" Carol asked coming out of the room she and Beth had been sleeping in.

"Out" he said before jumping up and out of the window.

"Not a morning person then?" Carol said with a thin lipped smile.

"No" Brandy sighed coming down the stairs "he just doesn't like" she paused and looked at her brother then out of the window "people."

Daryl gave her a small grunt of a laugh "any clean water around here?" he asked.

"In the kitchen is the only place" she showed Daryl and Carol around the house as they had only seen the staircase and few rooms they were sleeping in. "I'll go get some food on, ya'll be hungry I'll bet."

"Thanks" Daryl gave her a half smile.

* * *

By the time Lee came back everyone was up and had eaten some beans for breakfast.

"Hey" he said to Brandy "a word" he motioned for her to join him outside which she dutifully did.

"What's up" she asked wrapping her arms around his waist.

"How long they stayin' for?" he asked her.

"I dunno, s'long as they want" Brandy backed away from him, shocked that he would ask such a question. "I just found my brother Lee" she licked her lips "look I know you and him don't get along but surely now, with all the shit that's gone down, ya'll can put it behind ya?"

Lee gave her a small smile "sure" he said grinning "I can do that, for you" he lifted her head up and kissed her on her lips, he felt her body totally relax against him.

She finally pulled away from him "thank you" she blushed "I gotta go do some business" she whispered "play nice in there."

Lee watched her go down the stairs, watching her as she walked down the hall "cutest ass in the south" he grinned and turned to go into the room where his guests were relaxing, eating his beans. He smiled "sure" he thought to himself "I can put an end to it" before opening the door "hey ya'll!" he smiled happily at the newcomers.


End file.
